Fix: Surface 3 Pro Pen Doesn’t Open OneNote in Windows 10

By:
Ivan Jenic

▪February 16, 2015▪

3 minute read

Windows 10 Technical Preview has a lot of bugs, and one of these bugs is bothering Surface 3 Pro users. Reportedly, they’re unable to run OneOne when the they press the top button of the pen. Since this is just a Technical Preview, this problem will probably be solved in the full version, but if you can’t wait, here are a couple of stuff you could do:

Check if Surface Pen drivers are compatible with Windows 10

First thing you’ll need to check is if your Surface Pro 3 drivers and firmware are compatible with the current version of Windows 10 Technical Preview you’re using. If there are some drivers issues, just update your drivers to the latest version, and your problem should be solved. If this didn’t help, try some of the following solutions:

Pair Surface Pen manually

Go to Start Menu and click on Settings.

Click on Change PC settings, tap or click PC and devices, and then tap or click Bluetooth. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on.

If Surface Pen appears in the list of discovered devices, tap or click it and then tap or click Remove device.

Hold down the top button for seven seconds, until the light in the middle of the pen clip starts to flash.

When the pen appears in the list of Bluetooth devices, tap or click it, and then tap or click Pair.

If manual connection between the Surface Pen and Surface 3 Pro didn’t help, you might try to change the batteries.

Unscrew the top of the pen from the bottom leaving the paper label in the top in place.

Insert a jeweler’s Phillips screwdriver into the battery case, through the middle of the spring, and unscrew battery case.

Remove the battery case, and replace the old batteries with new ones. Insert the batteries into the battery case with the negative (—) side facing the pen tip.

Slide the top of the pen down over the battery case. Tighten the case just until you feel resistance. Do not over-tighten

Screw the bottom and top of the pen back together

You may need to pair the pen to your Surface again after you change the batteries

Contact Enterprise Support

If manual connection and changing batteries didn’t help, you may try to contact Microsoft Enterprise support. Contacting the Enterprise Support could be useful not just for solving this problem, but for solving any Windows-related problem you can’t find online. You can ask Microsoft Enterprise support for help on this link.

Wait For Necessary Updates Or The Next Build

As you know Windows 10 is just a Technical Preview with various, improving builds coming out once in a while. Every new build of Windows 10 Technical Preview improves some aspect of the system, so if your pen doesn’t launch OneNote when the top button is pressed, there’s a possibility that this problem will be solved in the next build. Windows 8 and 8.1 users had similar problem, which was solved in one of the system updates. You can of course report this bug with Windows Feedback Tool, but you should know that tool doesn’t work as expected. You can read more about it in our ‘Windows Feedback Tool’ article.

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